The Man with the greatest tank kills

matmin77

When some of you read this, you might be thingking  Micheal Witman, the great Tiger tank commander....but

...the greatest individual of them all....in terms of tank vs tank kills...is ...

Kurt Knispel....





With 168 (all confirmed, possibly as high as 195) kills, Kurt Knispel was by far the most successful tank soldier of the Second World War. He was an exception in the German armored forces. He fought in virtually every type of tank as loader, gunner and commander. He was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class after destroying his fiftieth enemy tank and the Tank Assault Badge in Gold after far more than 100 tank battles.

When Knispel had destroyed 126 enemy tanks (with another 20 unconfirmed kills) he was awarded the German Cross in Gold. He became the only non-commissioned officer of the German tank arm to be named in the Wehrmacht communique. As commander of a Tiger and then a King Tiger Knispel , he destroyed another 42 enemy tanks. This raised his total to 168 enemy tanks destroyed, making him by far the world's top "tank killer". Although it was richly deserved, he was never awarded the Knight's Cross, although he was recommended four times.



Knispel was a fighting man who always remained in the background.Unlike many of his contemporaries , he was not consumed by the pursuit of medals and decorations. Whenever there were confliting claims for an enemy tank destroyed, Knispel always steped back. He was always willing to credit someone else, when as a comander of a Tiger, he capped an unprecedented runs of success.

As a person, Kurt was willing to help and unobtruasive. He shared his food and drink with his comrades and-if necessary his last shirt.He was sincere and cheerful and all of the men who knew him had that whther on the offensive or defensive, if Knispel was at the front to the right or left or in front or behind, they were would be safe.He had never abandoned anyone no matter what the situation was.

Brief Combat History of Knispel

Inter War Years

For his basic training Knispel went to the Panzer Replacement Training Battalion at Sagan in Lower Silesia. There, like all other budding soldiers, he had to learn to march and salute, then progressed to basic weapons training. This included learning to handle the Kar 98k rifle and P38 pistol, how to throw hand grenades and how to operate the MG34, later followed training on the Pz I, II & IV.

Early War  Period

On 1 October 1940 he was transferred to the 3rd Company of the 29th Panzer Regiment, 12th Panzer Div. Knispel completed his training as a loader and gunner in a Pz IV, training lasted until 11 June 1941 and consisted of courses at Sagan and Putlos.

Knispel was gunner in Pz IV under Lt. Hellman at the time of Barbarossa, where he participated in the initial assault as part of Panzergruppe 3, LVII Army Corps (later LVII Panzer Corps) commanded by General Adolf Kuntzen. Knispel saw action from Yarzevo to the gates of Stalingrad, in the North around the Leningrad-Tikhvin area and also in the Caucasus under Mackensen.

Knipsel's Panzer iV



Mid War Year

Knispel returned to Putlos at the end of January 1943 and became familiar with the new Tiger tanks, at this time, Knispel was credited with 12 kills.



From Putlos, a group of men was sent to 500th Panzer Battalion at Paderborn. This group was led by Oberfeldwebel Fedensack and included Kurt Knispel, it was to become the 1st Company of the elite 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, and fought at Kursk as flank cover to 7th PzDiv (Armee Abteilung Kempf).

Knispel saw further action during the relief attack on the Cherkassy Pocket (a.k.a. Khorsun Pocket), Vinnitsa, Jampol, Kamenets-Podolsk. The Company re-equipped with Tiger IIs and fought around Caen and the retreat from Normandy. From there back to the Russian front and action around Mezőt鷕, T鰎鰇szentmikl髎, Cegl閐, Kecskem閠, the Gran bridgehead, Gyula, Neutra, Bab Castle(In one action, Knispel reports 24 enemy hits on his Tiger II), Laa and finally Wostitz, where he was killed in action.




To see all the Tiger Aces of the German Army in the Second World War....go  here...

http://www.alanhamby.com/aces.html

[ Last edited by  matmin77 at 16-9-2007 03:41 AM ]

alphawolf

Knispel mungkin kurang dikenali sebab

1. Kurang decorations
2. Kurang 'aksi menarik' seperti Wittmann di Villers-Bocage atau Ernst Barkmann di 'Barkmann's Corner'

edelweiss101

yellowfin

Fuh..!! kalo ada 2/3 orang commander Pt 91 mcm diorang nih, setakat 100 tanks je yg datang senyum je lg..

Tapi aku rasa dgn close air support dan air interdiction yg diutamakan dlm doctrine hari ni susah tank commanders to gain the same achievements mcm diorang ni..

alphawolf

Heheh...tapi situasi perang selepas 1944 di Eropah sama aje dengan Iraq 2003 dimana ruang udara dikuasai pesawat musuh.

Beberapa faktor yang menyebabkan muncul Panzer ace macam depa tuh
1. Kualiti latihan dan kelengkapan mereka - it takes 5 Shermans to kill a Tiger, remember? dan dalam satu buku yang saya baca, perbandingan firepower antara Tiger dengan tank Aliies adalah sperti berikut
- Tiger boleh tembus armor hadapan semua kereta kebal Aliies pada jarak 1800 meter.
- Cromwell dan Sherman 75mm langsung takleh tembus armor hadapan Tiger
- Sherman 76mm boleh tembus armor hadapan Tiger pada jarak 700 meter
- Sherman Firefly boleh tembus armor hadapan Tiger pada jarak 1750 meter
- T-34/85 boleh tembus armor hadapan Tiger pada jarak 500 meter

2. Jumlah armor musuh yang lebih banyak (ironi sikit la kan?)

Debmey

i will really like to know the tactics these tankees used to be so incredibly successful.

babaq_net

terima kasih sebab post nih, tak pernah aku tepikir nak mengambil tahu perihal ace2 tanker nih.

matmin77

Nie  top 20 list of Panzer Aces

    Name         Kills         Unit
1.Kurt Knispel 168   s.Pz.Abt. 503
2.Walter Schroif 161   s.SS-Pz.Abt. 102
3.Otto Carius 150+  s.Pz.Abt. 502
4.Johannes (Hans) Bolter 139+  s.Pz.Abt. 502
5.Michael Wittmann 138   s.SS-Pz.Abt. 101
6.Uscha Oberhaber 127   s.SS-Pz.Abt. 102
7.Paul Egger 113   s.SS-Pz.Abt. 102
8.Arno Giesen 111  8./SS-Pz.Rgt. 2
9.Heinz Rondorf 106  s.Pz.Abt. 503
10.Heinz Gartner 103  s.Pz.Abt. 503
11.Wilhelm Knauth 101+  s.Pz.Abt. 505
12.Albert Kerscher 100+  s.Pz.Abt. 502
13.Balthazar (Bobby) Woll 100+  s.SS-Pz.Abt. 101
14.Karl Mobius 100+  s.SS-Pz.Abt. 101
15.Helmut Wendorff   95  s.SS-Pz.Abt. 101
16.Will Fey   80+  s.SS-Pz.Abt. 102
17.Eric Litztke   76  s.Pz.Abt. 509
18.Emil Seibold   69  s.SS-Pz.Abt. 502
19.Karl Brommann   66  s.SS-Pz.Abt. 503
20.Alfred Rubbel   60+  s.Pz.Abt. 503

matmin77

Nie salah sorang Panzer Ace yang paling ulung selain Wittman dan Knipsel yang masih hidup hingga hari ini..

Otto Carius



Born: 27 May 1922 in Zweibrucken

Awards:
- Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class (EK II and EK I),
- Knights Cross (Ritterkreuz),
- Oakleaves to the Knights Cross (Eichenlaub),
- Wound Badge in Gold,
- Panzer Battle Badge in Silver (100),

Total victories (kills):
- 150-200 tanks,
* Majority of this score was tailed on the Eastern Front.


Early War

Just as he graduated from school, World War II broke out and he volunteered for 104th Infantry Replacement Battalion in May of 1940. Following training, he was assigned to the 21st Panzer Regiment and experienced his first battle as a loader on a Panzer 38(t) during the "Barbarossa" operation in June of 1941.


Late War

In 1943, Carius transferred to the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 (502 Tiger battalion). This unit fought at the Leningrad front and then in the area of Narva, Estonia (Battle of Narva). Carius was severely wounded in the summer of 1944, subsequently becoming the commander of a Jagdtiger company of the 512th Heavy Antitank Battalion (schwere Panzerj鋑erabteilung) in the West at the beginning of 1945. On 8 March 1945, without finishing its training, 2nd company was directed to the front-line near Siegburg. It then took part in the defence of the River Rhine and eventually surrendered to the US Army on 15 April 1945. Otto Carius destroyed more than 150 tanks during his WWII career. Together with Michael Wittmann and Kurt Knispel he is considered to be one of the greatest tank commanders in history.


Post War
After the war he started a pharmacy shop called Tiger Apotheke - in Herschweiler-Pettersheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, named after the Tiger tank. He also wrote a book about his own experience in the war, titled Tigers in the Mud.


Combat Action

On July 22 of 1944, 1st Lieutenant Otto Carius with his company of eight (early and mid production) Tigers advanced towards village of Malinava (northern suburb of Dunaburg) in order to halt the Russian advance. 1st Lieutenant Otto Carius and 1st Lieutenant Albert Kerscher (one of the most decorated commanders of sPzAbt 502) took a Kubelwagen in order to check if the village was already occupied by Russians. They discovered that village of Malinava was already occupied by the enemy. Carius recognized that the Russian tanks in the village were only advance troops waiting for the main force to arrive. He decided to recapture the village before the arrival of reinforcements. Carius returned to his company for briefing and explained his plan to take the village. He decided to attack the village using only two tanks because there was only one road leading to the village and rushing all of his Tigers would be dangerous. Six Tigers remained in the reserve while Carius and Kerscher's Tigers moved towards the village of Malinava. Speed was the essence of Carius' strategy and it was decisive to upset Russians and immobilize their tanks.

When Carius' Tiger No.217 was about to enter the village, two T-34/85 tanks were observed rotating their turrets. At this moment, Kerscher's Tiger No.213 which followed Carius at about 150m, fired and knocked them out. Also for the first time, Otto Carius encountered Russian's latest JS-1 (or possibly JS-2) heavy tank. Its silhouette was somewhat similar to the German King Tiger and Carius was confused at first but after hesitating a bit, he fired and JS-1 burst into flames. Afterwards, Otto Carius recalls that the entire battle did not last more than 20 minutes. In such a short time, Carius and Kerscher's Tigers knocked out 17 Russian tanks including the new JS-1. Although the Russians were attacked by surprise, Carius' quick and accurate recognition of the situation and the excellent tactics used were the main factors in the outcome. Carius' achievement at Malinava is equally outstanding to Michael Wittmann's achievement at Villers-Bocage.

This is the book he wrote, Tigers in the Mud..available in Borders and Kunikuniya

alphawolf

Kalau korang perasan kat unit aces tu, samada Heer atau SS, semuanya ada prefix 's' (schwere = heavy). Bermakna mereka semua dari unit Tiger atau King Tiger.

matmin77

Semua Tiger tanks di masukan ke dalam special Heavy Panzer Company atau Battalion...setiap unit2 ini terdiri daripada the best tank crew of the whole german army..sama ada Heer atau SS formations.....ussually a Heavy Battalion has about 45 Tiger tanks with 3 companies of 15 tanks each..attached to a Panzer Corps or Panzer Division.....however Tiger tanks very not reliable and break down oftern so the number of combat ready tanks were lower....

There was special a unit form druing the War....Panzer-Regiment B鋕e commanded by Colonel Dr. Franz B鋕e ( who was a Dentist)....another successfull and famous tank commander during the war..

Panzer Regiment Bake was one of the most powerfull armourerd units during the war and had 47 Panthers and 35 Tiger tanks supported by Self-Propelled Guns and a mechanised enigineer battalion.....used mainly in defensive "Fire -brigade" actions in the Eastern front...one of the most important actions the unit was involvded in was during the Cherkassy-Korson Pocket battle of '44..where it almost singled handly broke though and repulsed Soviet armoured attacks in order to keep a corridor open for 8 encircled German divisions escaped  ...

Seom background on Dr. Franz Bake..
From wikipedia..

Franz Bake



Stabilising the Eastern Front

After the defensive battles near Moscow during the winter, the severely depleted 6.Panzer was ordered back to France to be rested and rebuilt. On 1 June 1942, B鋕e was promoted to commander of II./Abteilung of Panzer-Regiment 11. B鋕e spent the majority of 1942 overseeing the rebuilding of his shattered Abt and familiarising himself with his new command.

After the encirclement of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, the 6.Panzer, now fully reformed, was sent to Ukraine to join Generaloberst Erich von Manstein's Army Group Don, currently struggling to halt the advancing Soviet forces. The division arrived at the front in December 1942 and was immediately thrown into heavy fighting, taking part in the abortive attempt to relieve the 6th Army, Operation Wintergewitter. B鋕e, commanding II./Panzer-Regiment 11, showed great skill as a tank commander, inflicting heavy losses on the advancing Soviets during the fighting withdrawal to Kharkov and preventing a large scale breakthrough. On 11 January 1943, B鋕e was awarded the Knight's Cross for his efforts during these battles.

The division took part in the battle to retake Kharkov. The performance of B鋕e's Abt, fighting alongside the SS-Panzerkorps and Panzergrenadier-Division Gro遜eutschland, measured up to the fighting reputation of these elite units. After the destruction of Mobile Group Popov and the recapture of the city, 6.Panzer was attached to Armee-Abteilung Kempf. During May, the division was pulled back to act as reserve when it was rested and refitted. B鋕e had by now built himself a reputation as one of the army's most capable tank commanders.


Kursk - Panzer-Regiment B鋕e

In June, 6.Panzer was attached to 4.Panzer-Armee under Generalfeldmarschall Hermann Hoth. 4.Panzer-Armee was to form the southern pincer of the attack on the Kursk salient, Operation Citadel. B鋕e led his Abt through fierce fighting against the entrenched soviet forces near Belgorod. On 13 July 1943, he was wounded, but remained with the unit. On 14 July, the commander of Panzer-Regiment 11 was severely wounded, and command of the regiment was temporarily delegated to B鋕e. During the ferocious armoured battles, B鋕e led the regiment bravely and proved himself a more than capable regimental commander. The offensive was cancelled on 13 August 1943, and B鋕e's regiment saw heavy combat during the withdrawal to the Dniepr. For his actions during Operation Citadel, B鋕e was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross.

On 1 November 1943 B鋕e was promoted to oberstleutnant der reserve and his command of the regiment was made official. In December 1943, he was ordered to begin formation of an ad-hoc reinforced tank regiment, titled schwere-Panzer-Regiment B鋕e. The regiment consisted of large numbers of Panther and Tiger 1 tanks, supported by self-propelled artillery and a mechanised engineer battalion. The Regiment was to be used in 'fire-brigade' duties in the southern sector of the Eastern front. In January 1944, B鋕e commanded his regiment during the battles for the Balabonowka pocket. During the five-day battle, B鋕e's regiment was credited with destroying 267 Soviet tanks for the loss of only one Tiger and four Panthers. B鋕e single-handedly destroyed three Soviet tanks during the battle with infantry weapons at close range, for which he received three Tank Destruction Badges, worn on his upper right sleeve.[1]

Oberst der Reserve Dr.med.dent. Franz B鋕e in command of schwere-Panzer-Regiment B鋕e, 1944.Next, the regiment was sent to the area of Korsun-Cherkassy, where Gruppe Stemmermann had been encircled in the Cherkassy Pocket. Together with the 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, B鋕e's regiment was thrown into action to open an escape corridor. During the battles, B鋕e's tanks opened a route of escape for the trapped Germans and held it open while many escaped.

For his actions during these battles, B鋕e received the Swords to the Knight's Cross on 14 February 1944. In March, the regiment was trapped in the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket along with the entire 1.Panzer-Armee. B鋕e's regiment formed one of the spearheads moving west to break the encirclement, and effected a link up with II.SS-Panzerkorps, creating an escape route for the army

[ Last edited by  matmin77 at 19-9-2007 12:58 PM ]

belacan79

zaman sekarang ader ke wira-wira kereta kebal cam si nazi kat atas tu ? semuanyer berdasarlan teknologi canggih.

alphawolf

Memang...tapi antara yang menarik...kalau tak salah aku, Wittmann asalnya crew assault gun.

Dan pasal ace moden....mana ada tank v tank battle besar-besaran mcm dulu...yang terakhir masa Perang Yom kippur 1973.

Robotech

Huh, takder Allied tank Commander ker dalam list tanker ace tuh?

Semuanya Germany jer .... ada sesiapa yg blh post info lak pesal Allied Tanker Killers?

alphawolf

Kalau tanker killer...mungkin orang macam Dick O'Kane...tapi kalau TANK killer...wa pun tak tau...perhaps some Russian...

matmin77

Nie salah sorang well known Russian Tank comander that helped stoped an entire German Panzer Division in its track by a well planed ambush...unfortunately after the war he was convicted of helping someone escape to the west and was transferred to reserve.....during this time, Russian tanks such as the Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks were surprior in armour and firepower then Panzer IIIs and Ivs deployed by the germans....

Zinovij Kolobanov



Krasnogvardeysk Battlle

On August 14, 1941, the vanguard of the German 8th Panzer Division approached Krasnogvardeysk (Gatchina) near Leningrad (St Petersburg), and the only Soviet force available at the time to attempt to stop the German advance was five well-disguised KV-1 tanks, dug in within a grove at the edge of a swamp. KV-1 tank no. 864 was commanded by the leader of this small force, Lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov.



German tank vanguard attack plan and positions of three soviet KV-1 tanks

Soviet newspaper article of 1941German forces attacked Krasnogvardeysk from three directions. Near Noviy Uchkhoz settlement the geography favoured the Soviet defenders as the only road in the region passed the swamp, and the defenders commanded this choke point from their hidden position. Lieutenant Kolobanov had carefully studied the situation and readied his detachment the day before. Each KV-1 tank carried twice the normal amount of ammunition, two thirds being armour-piercing rounds. Kolobanov ordered his other commanders to hold their fire and await orders. He did not want to reveal the total force, so only one exposed tank at a time would engage the enemy.

On August 14, the German 8th Panzer Division's vanguard ventured directly into the well-prepared Soviet ambush, with Kolobanov's tank knocking out the lead German tank with its first shot. The Germans falsely assumed that their lead tank had hit an anti-tank mine, and failed to realize that they were ambushed. The German column stopped, giving Kolobanov the opportunity to destroy the second tank. Only now did the Germans realize they were under attack, but failed to find the source of the shots. While the German tanks were firing blindly, Kolobanov knocked out the trailing German tank, thus boxing in the entire column.

Although the Germans correctly guessed the direction of fire, they could only spot Lieutenant Kolobanov's tank, and now attempted to engage an unseen enemy. German tanks moving off the road bogged down in the surrounding soft ground, becoming easy targets. 22 German tanks and 2 towed artillery pieces fell victim to Kolobanov's No. 864 before it ran out of ammunition. Kolobanov ordered in another KV-1, and 21 more German tanks were destroyed before the half-hour battle ended. Total number of destroyed German tanks reached 43, and this was done by five Soviet KV-1 (two more remained in reserve).

After the battle, the crew of No. 864 counted a total of 135 hits on their tank, none of which had penetrated the KV-1's armour. Lieutenant Kolobanov was awarded the Order of Lenin, while his driver Usov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Former Captain Zinoviy Kolobanov was awarded by Soviet authorities despite that he had been convicted and downgraded after the Winter War for fraternizing with enemy. After the end of WWII Lt. Kolobanov served in the Soviet occupation zone in Eastern Germany, where he was convicted again because a subordinate escaped to British occupation zone and was transferred to the reserve.

The battle for Krasnogvardeysk was covered up by Soviet propaganda. A monument dedicated to this battle was installed in Noviy Uchkhoz in 1980 at the place where Kolobanov's KV-1 was dug in, only by claim of the village's inhabitants. Unfortunately it was impossible to find a KV-1 tank, so an IS-2 heavy tank was installed there, instead

Rungkai

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UDeCEF2QM8A